


Witness

by fluffyquill



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 2, Can be read as platonic or romantic ship, Emotional Support Paladin, Ep 110: Dinner with the Devil, Found Family, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Possible Spoilers for Episode 110, Small kisses, TW: Minor Panic Attack, Warning: Trent Ikithon, both are awesome, small mental breakdown, the mighty nein - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:27:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26635102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffyquill/pseuds/fluffyquill
Summary: They had all changed and shaped each other in so many ways, and they acknowledged that.  But in this moment, their wizard can only see his broken pieces.(Post Ep 110 - canon adjacent)
Relationships: Fjord/Caleb Widogast, WidoFjord - Relationship
Comments: 12
Kudos: 111





	Witness

**Author's Note:**

> (Quick warning at the beginning for panic attacks.)

After the tour of their new place, Fjord can pinpoint the second he sees the light fade from Caleb’s eyes.The others are marveling at the grand structure their friend has created - delighted gasps and whoops of delight and earnest praise - and Caleb smiles.

“I am glad you all like it.”

He nods as he looks around, satisfied with his work.

“ _Ja_ , we’ll be safe here.”

And something cracks.

Whatever has been holding the man together into some semblance of a functional human being this entire evening - fear, fury, sheer stubbornness - dissolves.His breath hitches.He starts to wring his hands as they begin to shake.

Fjord steps into his space, arms encircling but not quite touching.He wants to give Caleb the chance to move away if he wants.But the man’s eyes have gone distant, and he repeats, voice choked and watery, “We’ll be safe here.”

“Caleb?” Veth calls from the hallway. “Caleb, what is it?”

“We’ll be safe here… We’ll be safe here…”

It sounds like a terrified prayer, as Caleb covers his mouth to stifle a sob.He’s white as a sheet, and his dark suit and coat make him look even paler.It isn’t until the first tear darts down his clean-shaven cheek that Fjord gently tugs at Caleb’s elbows and pulls him into the safety of his arms.

“Oh Caleb…”

He loops one arm around the wizard’s waist, supporting him as the tremors worsen.Gripping a fistful of the man’s coat, Caleb burrows his face into Fjord’s chest.

“He planned it… he planned it all…”

He sounds so _small_.A surge of fierce protectiveness balloons in Fjord’s chest.Caleb should never sound so defeated.

“He planned nothing,” Fjord growls under his breath, but with no heat to his words. “Gambled?Sure.But he didn’t plan shit.Just like Beau said, remember?”

“…to be his _successor!”_ Caleb whimpers, as if the very thought was a death sentence.His breath quickens, and Fjord rubs one hand over Caleb’s back.

“Hey now, remember to breathe,” he murmurs.

He can’t find it in him to shush Caleb’s cries or tell him there’s no reason to be afraid.They’d just spent the last… hour?Two? - he can hardly remember - in barely civil company with their friend’s tormentor of ten years.Had _dinner_ with him.

Fjord had said that he hadn’t eaten out of principle, same as Yasha.However, he hadn’t mentioned that if he’d picked up his steak knife, the temptation to thrust it up into Trent’s jaundiced jugular would have been hard to resist.

_PUNISH,_ whispers a chilling memory.

No, he won’t tell him he shouldn’t be afraid. 

Besides, if Caleb kept any more feelings bottled up and hidden away than he already had, he was likely to shatter.And there was no shame in showing his fear.Not to his friends.Not to the Nein.

So Fjord chooses to soothe Caleb’s rattled self-control, rather than fulfill his own egotistical desire to rid the world of that twisted monster.He tries to channel Melora’s warmth and safety, as the others gather in the nearby doorway, ready to offer their support at the first indication.He can feel, rather than see, Caduceus’s knowing smile and he takes that as a sign of approval.

As Caleb’s breathing evens out after a few minutes, Fjord feels a sense of satisfaction, even though the tears keep coming.

“He said that he and I are not so different,” he bemoans quietly, “I… I cannot become what he is… I _cannot_ … I’ll go mad entirely…”

“Caleb…”

He adjusts his hold around Caleb’s waist.Resting his cheek atop Caleb’s head, Fjord tries to peer down at the man’s face.

“…he may say you’re a lot alike, but I, for life of me, cannot see the resemblance.You’re choosing your own path, a better one.And it shows.In your actions, and in the world around you.Whatever decision he made all those ages ago, he _chose_ to be bitter and alone.And in his own twisted way, he envies what you have.Because you have _us_.A home, and a family that loves you.”

“You do?”

Fjord feels his heart break a little.

“Of course we do.We make each other better, remember?”

He smooths Caleb’s hair out of his face, letting the long strands tangle in his blunted claws.Cupping the back of his head, Fjord presses a chaste kiss over the wizard’s right eye, just along the brow bone.

“I see a good man,” he whispers into the bridge of Caleb’s nose.He can almost hear the ocean waves from the time he last spoke those words.

“You are brilliant and powerful, but you are also kind.And that, Caleb Widogast, is what makes you more of a man than he is, in every way that matters.”

And as he pulls back, the clarity written in the wizard’s tear-stained face is enough to reassure him that Caleb actually believes him.

FIN

~@~@

[THE SKETCH THAT PROMPTED THIS WHOLE THING](https://fluffyquill.tumblr.com/post/629799085546913792/nevermind-i-doodled-my-feels-instead-still)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think I took a proper breath during that whole dinner scene. Obviously, I had some feelings about it. Beau took most of the words right out of my mouth.
> 
> NEW EPISODE TONIGHT WOO


End file.
